[antiwar-van] MAYDAY 2005: A Great Success for Working People!

[shannon bundock]

Congratulations to all working and poor people in BC: 
Mayday 2005 a great celebration and a great success!

On Sunday May 1st 2005 more than 700 working and poor
people marched through the streets of Downtown
Vancouver chanting, “Long Live International
Solidarity!” Banners and flags flew through the crowd
that spanned entire blocks long and curb to curb wide
of the Downtown Streets. There was a tangible energy
that ran through the march – an energy of people who
were standing together and fighting against cuts and
attacks on workers at home and against the wars on the
rights and lives of workers in Iraq, Palestine,
Afghanistan, Haiti and all around the world.

The Mayday march and rally in Vancouver was called and
organized by the ad hoc “Mayday 2005 Organizing
Committee.” In under a month, the committee gathered
support and endorsement for the rally from more than
thirty groups, including the Vancouver and District
Labour Council and other labour unions and many
grassroots Indigenous, anti-war, political and
community organizations. The rapid and sweeping
support garnered for Mayday shows that poor and
working people in Vancouver recognize the historic
significance of Mayday… and that the tradition of
Mayday continues to live.

Mayday began at the enormously successful Women’s
Global Charter for Humanity rally at the Vancouver
Public Library – that itself is part of a drive of
international solidarity for the rights of all women
and all oppressed people in the world. The crowd grew
as it spilled out into the streets not only from
people who were arriving with signs in hand, but from
people who lined the streets, leaving the plans of
their day behind to march in the streets for the two
main demands of Mayday: “Stop the Campbell
Government!” and “Stop Attacks on Workers at Home and
Abroad!”

These two demands were reflected completely in the
program of the rally at the Vancouver Art Gallery. The
marchers were greeted by the rousing labour and
working class struggle songs of the Solidarity Notes
Choir who brought everyone there together, gathered
tight around the base of the steps at the Art Gallery,
singing the Internationale. 

Rally MCs Shannon Bundock, co-chair of Mobilization
Against War and Occupation (MAWO) and Miriam Martin,
member of Fightback, carried the program and
consistently linked the struggles of working people
together. 

The rally was opened and welcomed to Coast Salish
territory by Indigenous activist and sovereignty
fighter Kelly White and continued through a line up of
speakers who highlighted the unity of struggle of poor
and working people internationally. The fight of
workers against imperialist war and occupation and for
the most basic labour rights was brought forward by
Vancouver City Counselor Tim Louis, visiting Cuban
doctor and unionist Luis Armando Dominguez Nieto, and
Yadollah Khosroshahi, a leader for more than 40 years in 

oil sector labour movement in Iran, and oil workers strike 

during 1979 Iranian revolution.

The long and proud fight represented by these speakers
was brought home through the presence and presentation
of Hospital Employees Union Vice President Sheila
Rowswell who reminded the rally of Mayday 2004 when
more than 10 thousand working and poor people marched
in support of the HEU. Aaron Mercredi, Mayday 2005
Organizing Committee member and member of the Board of
Directors of Redwire Native Youth Media introduced the
importance of unity between the struggles of workers
and of Indigenous nations in Canada for
self-determination. 

At the top of the speaking program and holding the
strongest presence throughout the entire march and
rally was the Telecommunication Workers Union (TWU).
Following a rousing speech by Mayday 2005 Organizing 

Committee member and long time rank and file union member 

Joe Easton, TWU Executive George Doubt spoke of the 

importance of their job action against Telus who are ripping 

up the TWU contract and locking them out. The entire march
and rally cheered and lifted their fists in solidarity
with the TWU workers to give the message – TWU, WE ARE
WITH YOU!

The rally was closed by Nasim Sedaghat, member of the
Mayday 2005 Organizing Committee, participant in the
1979 Iranian revolution, former political prisoner,
social justice activist and rank and file union member
in Vancouver. Nasim reflected the struggles of the
most oppressed section of the working class in
Vancouver and wrapped up the entire message of Mayday
in her talk – the struggles of workers at home are the
struggles of workers internationally. She closed with
the words that have been uttered, chanted, written and
resolved on Mayday for more than a century: LONG LIVE
INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY! 

(The Mayday 2005 Organizing Committee would like to
thank the Greater Vancouver Regional District
Employees Union, the Vancouver and District Labour
Council, the Teaching Support Staff Union, Hospital
Employees Union, Joe Easton, Capilano Students Union,
Women’s March for Humanity, and the Iranian
Preparatory Committee for the May 1st Celebration for
the cash and in kind donations and the support)

It is also important to mention that the march and

rally was widely reflect in all media, radio, tv and newspapers. 

Here is some links and articles in Sunday and Monday 

Vancouver media.

http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=856ccb68-7600-4536-8def-186c876d35a1

http://switchboard.real.com/player/email.html?PV=6.0.12&&title=BCCTV%20News%20Live&link=rtsp%3A%2F%2Ffs2.insinc.com%3A554%2Fbcctv%2Ftex%2F..%2Fvtv%2Dsun.smi 


Workers rally, women relay

By MARIA WASILEWSKI
Metro Vancouver http://metronews.ca/uploadedFiles/Metro_Vancouver_0502_2005.pdf

Hundreds packed the downtown yesterday to take part in
the annual May Day workers’ march and witness the
Women's Global Charter for Humanity being passed from
American to Canadian women’s hands on its
round-the-world relay. City women’s groups packed the
main library square at noon to witness the arrival of
the document, adopted in December 2004, which contains
31 pledges to boost equality, freedom, solidarity,
peace and justice around the world. The charter has
been passed from country to country since it began its
journey in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on March 8, World
Women’s Day. Accompanying it is a solidarity quilt
added to by women from every countrythe charter has
passed through. Both will make five further stops
across Canada.

Addressing the crowd, Daisly Kler from the Vancouver
rape relief and women’s shelter said: “It’s
appropriate that we took May Day as our day. Women
perform 80 per cent of the world's work but own less
than one per cent of the world’s resources.” 

Approximately 250 people rallied at the public library
at 2:30 p.m. for the main May Day march to the art
gallery to listen to musical performances and labour
leaders’ keynote speeches. Although protest organizer
Thomas Davies said the movement did not endorse any
political party, marchers used the day, just two weeks
before the provincial election, to fire a warning shot
at Gordon Campbell’s Liberal government. Davies said
the past four years had not been friendly to workers
and said that Campbell’s administration had been “bad”
for all employees irrespective of whether they were unionized




---------------------------------
Post your free ad now! Yahoo! Canada Personals
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/antiwar-van/attachments/20050502/29405bae/attachment.html>